What, or one of the things, I love about New Theatre is it isn’t. 1932 ain’t new. By contrast, Brand Spanking New, clearly, is. If I’m not mistaken it’s in its third year and my colleague in critiques, Gus Supple, has taken the reins as the season’s artistic director. Week one’s programme brings us eight short [...]
READ MOREOctober, 2010
REVIEW: A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | York Theatre, Sydney
Glasgow. 1967. Peter Nichols’ oddly-named play opens, at the Citizens’ Theatre. Over these many intervening years and numerous productions, it’s brought on board the likes of Albert Finney, Stockard Channing and Clive Owen, to name but a few. Sybil Fawlty starred in a televisual adaptation, in 2002. Well, you know: Prunella Scales. I’ve always thought [...]
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REVIEW: Gutenberg, The Musical | Riverside Theatres, Sydney
Scott Brown and Anthony King are nuts. The evidence is in: Gutenberg, The Musical; a nonsensical parody of the form itself, based around scant info about the inventor of the printing-press. At its best it’s inventive and very funny; at its worst, just plain silly and, as a result, somewhat tediously self-indulgent. Regardless, it demands [...]
READ MOREREVIEW: Jesus Christ Superstar | Riverside Theatres, Sydney
Before Andrew Lloyd Webber became Lord Boring-Fart, he wrote an incredible, iconic musical. Well, rock opera. Probably his best. Almost certainly his edgiest. And let’s not exclude witticist, Tim Rice, from this equation. One can’t. It was, in effect, the gospel according to Tim ‘n’ ‘drew, replacing John’s version of events, on which it was [...]
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REVIEW: Sweat | CarriageWorks, Sydney
If there’s one thing that’s predictable (and practically guaranteed) about a Performance Space production it’s that its bound to be unpredictable. It’s like Derryn’s old strapline: expect the unexpected. Come to think of it, there’s something else: it’s a sure thing it’ll cross boundaries, between art installation, theatre and dance, unselfconsciously. Branch Nebula’s Sweat is [...]
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INTERVIEW: Elsie de Brauw on Opening Night at the MIAF
Actress Elsie de Brauw is in Melbourne town this week for the International Arts Festival. She’s starring in Opening Night, renowned Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s adaptation, with Amsterdam’s Toneelgroep, of the 1977 film of the same name, by John Cassavetes. In that film, Cassavetes, performing opposite Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara, depicts the progress [...]
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REVIEW: Life Without Me | Sumner Theatre, Melbourne
Dale Ferguson’s set is astonishing. Every three-stars-or-less crummy hotel foyer you’ve ever encountered sprawls ubiquitously across the vast Sumner Theatre stage; a pastiche of beige carpet, peeling wallpaper, fake wood panelling, faded leather couches, wrought iron side tables and plastic pot plants — a meticulously crafted nightmare for anyone who has travelled on a budget. [...]
READ MOREPREVIEW: When The Rain Stops Falling | Brisbane, Canberra, Alice Springs
Farrin Foster writes: Despite all the other ways of consuming art and entertainment, theatre persists in being successful. The reason is plays like When The Rain Stops Falling. Unashamedly dramatic, playwright Andrew Bovell (Lantana) has perfectly and affectingly exploited every inch of the medium’s scope to convey a gnarled, complex portrait of humanity.
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REVIEW: Fame | Capitol Theatre, Sydney
“Fame! I’m gonna live forever!” I think that’s how it goes. Only I’m not sure this musical should. I think it’s had its day. While, on paper, the themes are still topical, there’s something intangibly dated about it that can’t be overcome by sheer nostalgia. And the final indictment lies inasmuch as I think I [...]
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REVIEW: The Importance Of Being Earnest | Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney
Don’t bugger with it. That’s probably the best advice, for most intents and purposes, when it comes to Shakespeare. Or Wilde. After all, it’s not as if you’re going to improve on the text. So it’s a cardinal error (nay, sin) to distract from it. In his mature wisdom, director Nicholas Papademetriou, also one of [...]
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